


Shifting Perspectives

by BeesOfGallifrey



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, References to Torture, a Lungbarrow reference? in MY Gallifrey fic? It's more likely than you think, apparently I can't persuade them to cuddle without angst first, nothing overly graphic though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21859462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeesOfGallifrey/pseuds/BeesOfGallifrey
Summary: After yet another ordeal on an alternate Gallifrey, Leela, Romana and Narvin reflect on all that happened there. Set between Gallifrey 4.3 'Annhilation' and 4.4 'Forever'.
Relationships: Leela/Narvin/Romana II
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Shifting Perspectives

**Author's Note:**

  * For [magicofthepen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicofthepen/gifts).



> This is for magicofthepen, who prompted 'Romana/Leela/Narvin + cuddling' over on tumblr, and I got carried away and wrote far more than initially intended.

All was silent and still. The only sounds were the background hum of the Axis, and the beeps and whirs coming from the control room, where K9 was alone, busy with a systems check. The Mistresses and Narvin had recently returned from a trip beyond a portal to another Gallifrey. K9 did not know what had happened there, for when they had returned they had not spoken at all, except to order K9 to shut the portal permanently. There was a ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine per-cent chance that something unsatisfactory had happened there, K9 had decided, within five point three-two-seven seconds of them returning. He had not asked them what had happened. He had not dared. They had seemed somewhat tense. And anyway, they were on the far side of the Axis now; all probabilities suggested the living area. They were safe, and that was all that mattered, and so K9 continued with his systems check. They were safe, but they were not happy. But then, they almost never were.

K9 had been correct in his assumptions. Narvin, Romana and Leela were indeed in the living area, each of them clutching an untouched cup of tea. Leela sat alone, facing them across the spotless coffee table, and Narvin and Romana sat opposite her, sharing a sofa but sitting a respectful person’s width apart.

None of them spoke. None of them felt like saying anything, much, but none of them were particularly keen on the idea of being alone either, and so the three of them sat in silence, staring at their rapidly cooling tea, each lost in their own thoughts.

Narvin was dwelling on the fact that it would have been quite nice for just one expedition to an alternate Gallifrey to have been a success, or at the very least, uneventful. But of course, the universe is rarely so generous, and so their first venture through a portal since the vampire Gallifrey had been to a brutal, barbarous world, where fearsome warrior clans bore the names of the Houses of Gallifrey Prime, despising any outsider to their own clan. Why couldn’t the inhabitants of one of the alternate Gallifreys be nice and harmless for once? Was such a thing so impossible, despite them having all the universes at their fingertips? Or was the concept of a safe, friendly and welcoming Gallifrey something even the multiverse found unbelievable? Narvin was no longer certain.

Whilst Narvin dwelt upon the brutality common across all universes, Romana was reflecting upon how unsettling it had been, that village they had come across in the world beyond the portal. Hiding in the forest that surrounded it, they had heard that the village was home to the clan of Lungbarrow, and as they had ventured further towards the centre, they had seen the full force of that clan’s brutality, and the horrifying whims of its leader.

And oh, what a leader. For the clan had been ruled by that world’s version of Braxiatel. The wounds caused by the loss of their own Braxiatel were still raw, and seeing a version of him so utterly cold, so heartsless, so without remorse, a Braxiatel who seemed to delight in cruelty and suffering, had opened those barely-healed wounds anew, leaving Romana chilled to her core.

Her hands tightened around her cup as she remembered all they had witnessed. The tea’s remaining warmth provided her with some slight comfort, though given all they had seen, it wasn’t nearly enough to soothe her.

Lungbarrow’s warriors had taken two prisoners from two of their rival clans, and this version of Braxiatel had delighted in having them tortured, before they were slowly put to death. Yet again, Romana had found herself watching a version of her first incarnation die. It had been one thing to watch Leela kill Pandora whilst the Imperiatrix wore Romana’s old body. It was another thing entirely to watch herself die, in slow, ever-increasing agony. The only difference was that this time, she had been joined by another version of Narvin, who seemed near identical to their own Narvin, save for the fact that he had a beard. Watching his death had been even worse than watching her own. He had been near senseless by the end, reduced to a quivering heap, making incomprehensible noises of pain and fear, noises that had left Romana so numb and raw that she had had to repeatedly check that _their_ Narvin was still by her side, that he was still alive. And he had been, of course, standing as still as a statue, chalk-white with shock, but alive nonetheless. As she had reassured herself again and again that he was alive, she couldn’t help but notice that Leela was doing the same.

Leela stared numbly at her tea. She couldn’t bear to drink it. She felt sick, her stomach tight with the horror she had felt as the bloodied and bruised corpses of the other Romana and Narvin were dragged away; her insides still roiling with the memory of the fear and panic that had surged through the three of them as they were spotted, as they tried to flee, as they were captured. The people of this world had the alertness, agility and hunting ability equal to any Warrior of the Sevateem, combined with the physical strength of Gallifreyans, and even Leela, with her newly enhanced strength and senses, was unable to evade them. As they had been dragged through the forests, back to the village, before being bundled together into a cage that was far stronger than it looked, Leela had thought of her own people, and of how much parts of this world reminded her of her first home. She wondered whether since they were on a world where the people of Gallifrey were like the Sevateem, there was a universe where her people were like Gallifreyans. This thought was an unsettling one, one that made her insides twist themselves into knots, and she decided that this was one question she did not ever want to know the answer to.

Narvin realised his shoulders had grown tense, his body unconsciously hunching in memory of the cramped conditions of their imprisonment, in memory of the realisation that their fates would match those of their counterparts from this universe, and he took a deep breath, concentrating carefully until the tension left him, until he could straighten his shoulders and sit with his usual impeccable posture, until he could pretend he was unaffected by their latest ordeal. Whilst crammed in a tiny cage with the two women who had so unexpectedly become his world as much as Gallifrey had been, Narvin had been forced to confront the cold and brutal fact that he was facing imminent death, and so were the President he had sworn to protect, and the human who had saved both their lives more times than he cared to remember.

Narvin had been expecting to die. Try as he might, he could think of no possible avenues of escape. ‘This is it,’ he had thought, ‘there are no ways out, no solutions. No hope for us, or for our own Gallifrey. It all ends here.’

Narvin had been expecting to die, so it was safe to say their timely rescue by two rogue members of the Lungbarrow clan had greatly exceeded his expectations. He hadn’t wasted time pestering their rescuers about their motives, of course, unlike _some_ people; their first priority was to escape to the portal and return to the Axis in one piece. They had been fully aware that this world did not suit their purposes, so the precious microspans spent trying to gain further information from the feral, half-mad version of the Doctor and the strange woman with the braid of greying red hair so long she wore it coiled on her back like a snail’s shell had been the most monumental waste of time, and had very nearly got them killed.

He didn’t remember much about the race to the portal, only that it had been terrifying and had involved a great deal of scrambling through thick vegetation and tripping on tree roots. The threat of imminent death had not faded, despite their unexpected freedom, and even whilst they were desperately running for their lives, his mind had kept casually strolling back to the image of his own corpse lying broken in a pool of blood. With that vision in mind, it had been very difficult to concentrate on anything else.

They had made it to the portal with only moments to spare. Romana had screamed at K9 to close the portal before she had even fully made it through, and mercifully, he had complied without argument, as they had been followed through by several arrows that had narrowly avoided meeting their marks. Once she was certain they were safe, she had insisted the three of them go to the medical bay immediately, as they were all sporting various scrapes, bruises and other assorted injuries. She had been expecting at least some token resistance, perhaps an ‘I am _fine_ , Romana’ here, or a ‘Don’t fuss will you? I’m perfectly alright’ there.

But to her considerable concern, neither of them had protested. Both had numbly complied with her orders, and their compliance had lasted. There had been no arguments in the medical bay, not even one tiny, feeble, single protestation.

And now here they were, sitting in silence, together and yet alone, lost in their own thoughts.

Romana’s tea had gone cold. She hadn’t had a single sip. It was the warmth of it she had been craving, she realised, not the actual tea, and now that warmth was gone. She sighed, and set the cup down on the coffee table.

The dull thud of Romana’s cup on the table jolted Leela from her sombre reflections, and she glanced down at her cold tea with a frown, and placed her cup beside Romana’s. She studied Narvin and Romana’s desolate expressions closely, and something within her tightened painfully at how lost they both seemed. Romana met her gaze, and managed a small, sad smile. Narvin did not look up; he simply kept staring into the depths of his untouched tea. They both looked exhausted.

This was not right. They had survived yet another unpleasant and disturbing ordeal, and instead of offering each other support, they were sitting in complete silence. They were sitting together, yes, but separately, as if someone had built invisible walls between them.

She stood up purposefully and stepped over the coffee table, swiftly confiscating Narvin’s tea and placing it forcefully next to her own. A wave of tea sloshed out of the cup and puddled on the table.

“What are you doing, you deranged human? That will leave a stain!”

“No, it will not. This is the Axis. Nothing is permanent. Every things shifts, everything changes.”

She turned, and sat down in the space between them, her legs brushing against theirs. Leela slipped one arm around Romana’s waist and the other around Narvin’s, pulling them close. After a moment of hesitation, Romana relaxed against her, returning the one-armed hug. After several moments more hesitation, Romana reached her free arm across to Narvin, tugging him closer to Leela.

“Why?” he asked, with more than a hint of mild panic. He had remained frozen in confusion since the moment she had put her arm around him.

“Because all we have is each other, now,” Leela said simply, “We must stop pretending to be alone.”

There was a long pause during which Leela fancied she could _hear_ Narvin frowning as he thought things through, until finally, he let Romana pull his arm towards her, and he stiffly relaxed against Leela.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes or so, until Leela realised that as nice as it was, to have them leaning into her like this, it was not enough. As terrifying as it had been, being crammed in a tiny cage with them, squashed against each other with their limbs unavoidably touching, it had made her realise that she missed the simple comfort that physical contact with other beings brought with it. Living amongst Time Lords for so long, she had adjusted to the absence of the casual, comfortable touches that she was once so used to, amongst her own people, but for most of her time on Gallifrey, she had not minded, for she had had Andred. And then he had gone, and she had been left alone.

But now, she had her friendship with Romana, and even with Narvin. Despite the bonds that had blossomed between them, her two companions tried to remain separate, still acting as if they were alone.

“I am tired,” Leela announced, “And I do not wish to sleep alone, this night. We shall sleep here.”

Narvin sat bolt upright, and stared at her in bewilderment. “ _We?”_

“Yes, Narvin. _We_. I do not wish to be alone, and I do not think you do either. But I am tired, and I can see that you both are too. So we shall stay here. It is not at all complicated. Even a Time Lord can see it is a good plan.”

He gaped at her, open-mouthed, and failed to form a response beyond a feebly spluttered “But… but… but…”

“You have no insults to throw at me? Good. Then we are in agreement.”

She prodded him in the arm. He frowned at her finger, and she stared at him, her eyebrows raised. “Lie down,” she said wearily, “we will be more comfortable, that way.”

Romana had watched this exchange quietly, closely observing the minute changes in each of their expressions. The three of them had been growing closer for some time now, of course, ever since the Civil War, but lately she had noticed a shift in the way Narvin treated Leela. Oh, he had little patience for some of her more human idiosyncrasies, and they would both still insult each other gladly (and would probably continue to do so until the heat death of the universe), but beneath that, there seemed to be a growing vein of respect.

As Romana watched Leela continued to prod Narvin repeatedly until finally, with an exaggerated sigh of annoyance, he gave in to the onslaught, and awkwardly shifted position until he was lying down, his head resting against a cushion in the corner of the sofa. Leela gracefully pulled her legs from the floor and arranged herself so she lay snuggled beside him, settling her head on his shoulder, oblivious to the look of incomprehension and the faint blush he wore. He seemed too tired to protest, or at least, too tired to pretend to protest, and so he placed his arm carefully around her, tentatively letting his hand settle on her waist. As he did so, Leela sighed in contentment. Narvin’s hand seemed to tremble, and he let out a shaky breath.

Leela closed her eyes for a moment, smiling faintly. Romana found herself wondering whether Leela even knew she was doing it. Narvin seemed to soften, all tension gone, and his grip around Leela tightened. Romana raised an eyebrow, and tried to fathom what force in all the multiverse could possibly have made Narvin relax so quickly. His earlier look of confusion and mild panic had completely evaporated. He seemed content, as content as Leela evidently was. It was unnerving to see him so unguarded, and Romana realised that she was glad to have lived to see him this way, so far removed from the calculating expression he usually wore.

Leela opened her eyes, and she watched Romana closely. “Romana? Will you join us?”

“I-” Romana stopped herself from automatically protesting, from unthinkingly making up excuses. She was so very tired, after all, and Leela and Narvin did look very comfortable, cuddled up together like that, and it had been a truly terrible day, and if she were brutally honest with herself, she was lonely, and she had been lonely for a very long time.

The friendship Leela freely gave her, undemanding and deeply meant, and this new, most unexpected loyalty and friendship offered by _Narvin_ , of all people, meant far more to Romana than she could ever possibly admit, to either of them. The bonds between them were even more important now they had lost Braxiatel, now Romana was bereft of the counsel and friendship he had once offered.

Without taking her eyes from Leela’s, Romana nodded. She carefully shifted position, lying against Narvin so her head rested on his chest, her ear between his hearts. Romana slipped her arm around Leela, who smiled, and put an arm around Romana’s waist in turn, squeezing her gently. Their faces were very close; Romana could see every freckle that dusted Leela’s nose, the way her eyes lit up as she smiled despite her exhaustion. Narvin’s other arm crept around her too, holding her gently, but securely, and at his cautious touch, Romana felt the tension begin to leave her body.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so safe and secure. It couldn’t have been since the start of her Presidency, at the very least. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so comfortable, either. It seemed that being cuddled close against her best friend and her most surprising, frustrating, most unexpected and most welcome ally was proving to be extremely pleasant. The very human warmth of Leela seemed wonderfully balanced against the coolness of Narvin, leaving Romana the perfect temperature, and as time passed, she found herself increasingly reluctant to move.

Fortunately, Leela and Narvin seemed as reluctant to move as she was, and so there they stayed, shifting positions only so they could cuddle even closer, so they could hold each other tighter, their legs tangling together, their arms gripping one another securely. Before long, the silence was punctuated by the soft and strangely comforting sound of Leela’s gentle snores.

As Romana drifted off to sleep, her mind wandered back to the small sliver of comfort she had found whilst warming her hands on her cup of tea. That had been nothing, that warmth, in comparison to the cosy contentment of being so close to the only two people she had left, the two who had given her so much, at such a price; the two people she would go to any lengths to save.

‘Yes,’ she thought, her eyelids as heavy as the weight of Narvin and Leela’s arms around her, as the sound of Narvin’s snores began to intermingle with Leela’s, ‘Yes. _This_ is the warmth I’ve been looking for.’


End file.
